I’m starting to realize that to those who may be unfamiliar with GAPS, hearing a Real Fooder spouting off about going on some “diet,” may sound kinda odd. So, I thought I’d explain myself.

GAPS is not a “diet” in the sense that you might think — it’s not about weight loss (that’s the last thing I need), it’s not some new fad diet avoiding the latest “bad” nutritional thing (*cough*gluten*cough*), it’s not something you’ll hear on an infomercial late at night or see celebrities endorsing.

So what is it?

The GAPS diet is all about healing your gut. Most people in our modern society have significant damage to their intestinal system, due to poor diet (including improperly-prepared, refined grains and sugar) which feeds the “bad” bacteria in the gut, antibiotics, contraceptives (and other drugs), and a lack of probiotic food, to name a few reasons.

The problem often stems from several generations back. Babies are born with a sterile gut, and the very first dose of intestinal microflora (gut bacteria) comes from the mother’s birth canal. If your mother didn’t have good gut flora, because her mother didn’t have good gut flora, then you wind up inheriting it — and your gut health deteriorates — leading to a myriad of health issues.

There are countless disorders and illnesses that are a direct result of gut damage, though they may not seem that way to most medical professionals.

However, as Hippocrates himself said, “ALL disease begins in the gut.” Straight from the Father of Medicine, people!

Even depression, schizophrenia, and autism are related to gut damage, and can be reversed with healing from GAPS (which does stand for Gut and Psychology Syndrome, though it isn’t solely related to psychological or neurological illness). More obvious connections related to digestion, such as celiac disease, gluten intolerance, and other food allergies, are reversible with GAPS as well. Autoimmune diseases, eating disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, diabetes, the list goes on. Countless illnesses have been healed by using GAPS to heal the gut.

Healing with the GAPS protocol comes from three main sources:

Diet: The GAPS diet starts your digestive system back at square one. It gives the patient only the easiest foods to digest so that the body can focus on healing the physical damage within the gut (leaky, porous holes, caused by unhealthy gut flora which release toxins into the bloodstream), rather than trying to process difficult-to-digest foods. Slowly, more and more foods are introduced, but only foods chosen to specifically nourish the healing process are allowed. Healthy fats, probiotic ferments, and very nutrient-dense foods are the cornerstones of the GAPS diet.

Supplementation: The use of therapeutic-grade probiotics are essential in repopulating the gut with beneficial bacteria and restoring healthy intestinal flora. Vitamins A and D are also critical for the GAPS patient — these can be provided in a highly-absorbable form of cod liver oil. Sun exposure to trigger the body’s own production of vitamin D is also important.

Detoxification: Natural and gentle detox methods such as epsom salt baths, and vegetable juicing can give a highly beneficial boost to the detoxifying effects of a healing diet such as GAPS. It’s crucial that the body rids itself of as many damaging toxins as it can during this the healing process.

So what’s my big health struggle that needs healing with GAPS?

I’m Failing to Thrive

Yes, that’s basically what it sounds like. I fail at life, you guys.

That is me…

“Failure to Thrive” is an actual, clinical diagnosis given to me when I was a child. I weighed 35 pounds in the second grade. I was

…in a mailbox.

so small that I wasn’t even registering on the growth charts, and after many tests and exams and visits to hospitals and clinics, the best the doctors could come up with was, “Welp — she fails at growing. Sorry!”

Yeah. My poor mother.

And sadly, no one was recognizing what was really going on — I had damage to my gut that was causing my inability to, well, “thrive.” Tiny holes in my intestinal walls caused by an imbalance of gut flora (“good” probiotic bacteria vs. “bad” pathogenic) were inhibiting me from effectively digesting my foods and allowing them to nourish my body. Instead, food made me feel sick. So I didn’t like it.

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride explains on one of her sites (and in the GAPS book) how failure to thrive stems from an unhealthy gut –and usually at least one generation back at that. Because, as mentioned earlier, baby’s gut flora comes from the mother’s gut flora present in the birth canal, setting the stage for either good or bad gut health.

Failure to thrive is a common phenomenon in GAPS families. An infant with abnormal gut flora can thrive on breast milk. However, when solids are introduced the child instinctively learns that food (apart from breast milk) makes him/her ill. As the unhealthy digestive system cannot handle solids well and absorbs them partially digested, the child may experience many unpleasant symptoms: a tummy ache, muscle ache, itchy skin, headache, drop in energy, etc. So, quite rightly the infant refuses solids. It is very rare for a child older than six months to get enough nourishment just from breast milk, so without solids the child does not gain weight appropriately or starts loosing weight. The diagnoses failure to thrive usually follows.

Even as an adult, I’m still unable to gain weight appropriately, and until I began eating real food, I didn’t even like to eat, nor was I ever hungry. I’m very self-conscious about my body, and too embarrassed to divulge just how small I am these days, but suffice it to say, it’s my goal to get into the triple digits. I’m convinced that a “Failure to Thrive” diagnosis still applies to me, and that gut dysbiosis (GAPS) is the cause.

So I’m gonna fix it.

Bye-bye grains, starchy foods, and sugar.

Soup. You eat a lot of this on Intro!

And hello ridiculous amounts of homemade bone broth, meats and veggies, and good ol’ fashioned fat.

Yep, in a couple of weeks, once I finish gathering all my food and supplies (I’ll explain what I think you need for GAPS in a later post next week), I’m going on the first, most intense phase of GAPS — the Introduction Diet (I’ll also explain more about that later).

Pre-Hubs is doing it too, as are a couple friends. The Intro part should only last about a month, then we’ll transition into Full GAPS, which is much less intense, and much more, well… normal. Full GAPS can take around two years to fully heal an adult’s gut, but every body is different, and some people require more or less time on it, or a modified version as time goes on.

I’m really excited to share our GAPS journey with everyone and to document our progress as we go! I’m sure I’ll have lots to post about it in the coming weeks.

What do you think about the GAPS diet? Is this something you would consider to improve you or your family’s health? Or, are you already an experienced GAPSter — do you have any words of wisdom to share?

Comments

I’m so excited to read about your journey with GAPS. Will be following to see how you’re doing, and the steps you take to get ready (and beyond). I’m baby-stepping my family to a real/whole food diet and always love to hear how other people are doing this “unconventional” thing called real food. 🙂
Thanks for sharing!!
~Tami

I am interested in watching your journey. I have the opposite problem in that I am obese (at 5’4″ and over 200 pounds) but seem to eat next to nothing. Since I started following WAP, my stomach pain and bloating has disappeared, my depression has improved, I have energy and very few headaches. But I gained another 20 pounds! So, now I’ve eliminated all grain and potatoes to see if that helps. In 10 days I dropped 3 pounds, but I don’t know how long the downward trend will last before my body catches on. GAPS may be next. My sister’s family all lost a lot of weight when they went on GAPS to help my niece heal her gut.

I trust that GAPS will be a blessing to you! I just wanted to note that it is very likely that you will lose weight (even more!) when you are on Intro and will likely be extremely hungry at first, so be prepared. 🙂

I have been contemplating going on GAPS myself. My stomach is often upset and a few years ago I was even diagnosed with IBS. I am not sure I am ready for a step this big. I am excited for you and looking forward to seeing the prep involved and how everything goes. Best thoughts towards your continued healing!!

Can’t wait to see what all this involves! Even if I could just do a few things to improve my gut. We’re planning on starting to have kids in the next 3 or so years, so the better health I’m in, the better health they’ll be in!

I’m looking forward to reading about your experience. My husband thinks I’m nuts and refuses to try GAPS, which means my son will refuse, I’m sure, but I’m positive we could all benefit from it.

My husband and I are both overweight, but my 3 1/2 yr old son, who was born 6 weeks premature and whom I was only able to feed about 40% breastmilk for about 6 months (because of my inability to produce more than that, despite following ALL medical advise to do so) has always been underweight. He does not have failure to thrive, and is growing, but is very thin.

As I read more about GAPS, I’m sure our family could benefit greatly from it, but I’m still gathering information and learning, so I’m thrilled that you are going to post about your experience with it!!! (And I hope you will also let us know how the others you are doing this with are dealing with it too!)

I’m so excited for you to start! My husband and I just passed our 6 month mark on GAPS, and our son will have his 6 month anniversary on the diet in a week. We staggered our intro start dates in case of die off issues. No fun taking care of a sick kid if you’re feeling lousy too!

The diet is amazing. A ton of work, but totally worth it! We went on it because our son was diagnosed as autistic. Now he no longer needs special education services. I don’t know why it took me so long to commit to doing it!

I believe the diet is a stabilizing diet, and it will help you find your weight. I am at a weight where I am very comfortable; I look healthy and fit. Maybe a little small, but it feels “right”. My husband lost pregnancy pounds *cough*, and feels great about it. We stabilized a couple months ago. I look forward to reading about your weight gain!

I’m not on your blog often (sorry– I’m usually cooking!!), but I saw this post and had to show support!! May your successes be even more plentiful than all the broth you’ll consume! 😀

I’m so so so glad you’ll be documenting your journey so I can learn what to do from you! I love how you explain things so they are super easy for me to understand. As soon as I get my own kitchen again, I want to read the GAPS book and get started!

I will be reading your progress with alacrity! I have a son with Aspies and have told him about the GAPS diet and tried to tell him (indirectly) its benefits. (He doesn’t like to discuss his Aspies) But I would love for him to look into it. Maybe send him Dr. Campbell-McBride’s book would be a start.

I have a neighbor who has all kinds of autoimmune health problems and so does rdaughter: she has acid reflux so bad that she inhales it when (I guess) she is asleep. They need that book! And that is not the only person who has a child with digestive trouble!

It seems those 30 and younger and their offspring are most likely afflicted with this trouble. Most probably because of all the processed food in the marketplace anymore (even though processed foods have been around since the mid 1950’s and early 1960’s: i.e.: Lipton’s “chicken” noodle soup mix: loaded with MSG and “Fizzies” tablets: which I can remember plopping in a glass of water to make a sugary drink when I was 6) and lastly, that no one knows how to cook from scratch anymore.

From you blog (and others) my cattle ranched raised hubby has learn a LOT what is happening to our food supply anymore in the country. Thank you for writing it. Thank you for your dedication to real food.

BTW, after switching to butter and coconut oil, I’ve actually lost a bit of weight and I wasn’t even trying! Next 2 books, “Eat Fat to Lose Fat” and “The Mood Cure”.

I have been traditional foods for about a year now. I have lost 50 lbs BUT I have cut out sugar, flour and grains. Its not impossible. My husband was kind enough to do it with me. I want to try GAPS because of a candida infection that I’ve been trying to get rid of for the past year. I know it can take several years but I figured the GAPS couldn’t hurt. I will be glued to your blog for updates. No detail will be too small to leave out please. I do eat ferments every day and I believe it has helped some but still want to see about doing more. GOOD LUCK!!
PS for Susan W, I lost the weight on Eat Fat/Lose Fat. I highly recommend both books you referred to above.

I’ve been reading about GAPS and recommending it to those I know who have IBS and other chronic digestive issues. For me personally, I’ve cut out almost all grains since Sept 2011, and I’ve lost weight without really meaning to. I’m otherwise eating a whole foods traditional diet, and it’s been really helpful in revitalizing my health. I wish you the best in your journey with GAPS, and I am looking forward to learning more about your progress!

My daughter and I have been on GAPS for over a year now. I used to think GAPS was the cure all for everything. Now I’ve learned that its not. If you haven’t addressed something like liver congestion or low metabolism prior to GAPS, you are likely not to have the type of outcome you’d like (thats what we’re dealing with now). We are doing much better now since addressing our low metabolism (a la Matt Stone) and will eventually do GAPS of sorts. Don’t get me wrong- we did a tremendous amount of gut healing, but my daughter still has allergies and i still have signs of congested liver….

Alison, that was my experience too! I was on GAPS for a year (after 2 months on the intro), and saw little to no improvement at all. I think if your only issue is a bad gut, it could be great, but unfortunately I have too many other issues. It is a good step, but it’s not the cure-all that it’s said to be, at least it wasn’t for me.

May I ask, what signs did you have of liver congenstion? Are you planning on doing a flush? I’m asking because I think I would be in the same boat as you with the GAPS diet. I wonder if it would be worthwhile starting the healing process on the gut with GAPS and then doing liver cleanse as the gut is a bit better to avoid extra release of toxins into the system form the liver/gallbladder flush.

Very nicely said! I will encourage all my GAPS friends to follow your post. Your writing says it so much better than I can. Some of our clients have had children with “failure to thrive” and within a month after starting probiotics they have gained weight and grown an inch. Keep up the good work.

Yes! GAPS rocks! My 18 year old daughter is using GAPS to heal multiple food allergies and a lifetime of digestive challenges. Now, about 6 months into it, she has eliminated about half of her allergies, her digestion is much better, symptoms of leaky gut and related toxicity are way, way better (acne, odd breath, more clear mind, fewer headaches, better sleep, more energy), less water retention in her body (because she has less generalized inflammation)…. Reading Gut and Psychology Syndrome was like reading an up close and personal account of “her” from infancy till now. Food tastes better to her now than it ever has and her ability to taste “sweet” is so much improved! She doesn’t crave sweets much now, and when she eats something sweet it tastes much sweeter to her than it used to. I would like our whole family to do it, but so far she’s the only real “taker”. Still, I make our dinners GAPS friendly and have stopped buying anything made of wheat, so that’s something at least! Die off during the introduction can be a pain (get ready for some fatigue, serious food cravings, moodiness, headache, possibly a cold/flu…), but stick it out because it will pass and it’s worth it!

I am anxious to watch and learn from what you are doing. I am 12 weeks into the GAPS Diet and feeling pretty good. Even at that, there are many things I still have questions about.

I would also suggest for all who want to follow the GAPS Diet to look additional supplements and cleansing are also important and a Certified GAPS Practitioner has the knowledge of what will work best for you. I am also in a facebook group that includes my GAPS Practitioner.

I’m starting this, too! Will you post your lists of supplies, menus, etc? I have awful sinus allergies and some kind of weird acne/rosacea thing. Plus just want to be healtier. I am curious, if you’re already doing the nourishing-foods thing, will your die-off really be noticeable. Can’t wait

This is exciting! I am about to transition out of the GAPS diet after 10 months on it, but not until after the folks at Our Nourishing Roots finish the GAPS Challenge. You can join my GAPS Challenge if you like 😀 Congrats! This is a huge decision, and I think you’ll be feeling better soon!

I’m really excited to hear how your GAPS journey goes, and especially about the weight loss/gain thing. I’ve always been really small and skinny too…. I was never diagnosed with failure to thrive, but I was always the small kind in class, and now at 24 I weigh a whopping 79 lbs!!! That kinda embarrasses me to say out loud. Although I am only 5 feet tall, so maybe it’s not so bad. But still, I’d really love one day to fill out a little and like you say, make it to those double digits! Or at least the 90s!

I think I’m going to go on GAPS intro next month. I’m basically eating paleo/ full Gapsish as it is – I started eating real food due to having severe acne, which is now mostly gone due to a better diet and lifestyle, but it seems like no matter WHAT I eat, it won’t go away completely. And that is frustrating when you have a blog/business based around healing acne with diet and lifestyle. It kiiinddaaa makes ya feel like a bit of a failure.

Plus, I get bloated a lot and have heartburn and stomachaches frequently. And I’ve never found that elusive diet that makes me jump out of my seat and go ‘WOW! I FEEL GREAT!!’. I really want to find that. I’m really hoping GAPS will be the answer – as far as I’m concerned, it sounds like the closest thing there’s ever going to be for a true cure for acne and most other disorders – but I’ve been intimidated to go on it. Not because I don’t think I could do the intro, or because I don’t want to lose weight on it (I know it’ll come back), or because of the full GAPS (the diet really doesn’t sound that hard as I’ve been pretty much slowly moving toward it over the last few years). …

I’m just intimidated by the whole ‘you gotta be on it for 2 years’ thingy. I’m not ready for a family yet and I would still like to do plenty of traveling… I don’t want to to an intense 2 year diet, and then go to India, end up eating a lot of curry and white bread, and say buh bye to my shiny new gut. Ya know?

Vegan, absolutely not. Bone broths are a crucial cornerstone of GAPS and the collagen found in them is needed for gut healing. To avoid meat on GAPS and keep it vegetarian would be a poor choice because dairy has to be introduced extremely slowly, so for quite some time, your body likely wouldn’t be getting anywhere near enough protein. Typical sources of protein for vegetarians are not allowed, such as soy, grain, and most legumes.

Ultimately, you have to decide what’s more important — your health or your vegetarian/vegan ideals.

The GAPS Guide (http://amzn.to/wF5cJw) addresses this issue, but I haven’t read it yet as my copy is still on its way to me. I’ll try to update this answer after I read what it has to say, but I’m pretty sure it won’t be much different from what I wrote here.

Wow! I just started GAPS today for myself. But I also have a daughter who has failure to thrive. She is 38 lbs in the 3rd grade. Sound familiar? She is fed with a feeding tube, but the formula they provide for her is anything but nutritious. Once I am comfortable with GAPS for myself, I am going to put her on it, too. She wants to get rid of the tube more than anything, so she’s on board with trying it. I wonder if she will still be excited when she finds out there is no sugar…

Oh gosh, I sure hope you’re able to get your daughter started on the protocol cause yeah, that tube formula is awful! I have heard of tube-fed kids having success with GAPS. And kids that balk at the lack of sugar and starchy goodies they used to eat, tend to go through kind of a phase where they refuse the food and then suddenly they snap out of it — and have a great big appetite for the right foods.

Hi Shellie! I am in that boat as we speak. Please post an update on how your child is doing and how do you get the GAPS food into her feeding tube? I am about to start this too and have been researching on how to heal my infants gut flora! She was diagnosed with failure to thrive, dysphagia, and placed on a feeding tube at one week old and she is now almost 5 months. Looking for help and research on how to go about this!

Well, I was on the Intro for about 4 weeks. I followed a protocol “30 days on GAPS” which is found on the internet. I was not entirely sure it was doing much for me until this past weekend…when I went off GAPS for a “cheat weekend” with my husband. I.feel.awful. I cannot wait to get back on track tomorrow morning. The GAPS way of eating really does change your life and it most definitely helps my mood! I am a true believer.

I read your post on Healthy home economist about gaps and matt stone. I too am considering going on GAPS to fix many issues I have however have been reading some of matt stones ideas and wonder if it is better to do this than GAPs. I would be interested to hear how you are going to mix the 2 on them

Hi Lara! I plan on posting about this more in detail as I get further into it, because as of right now I’ve just been trying to eat as much as I (comfortably) can, and sleep more, but I haven’t been as successful with it as I would like to be. On days when I have to leave the house to go work at my “day job,” I don’t eat anywhere near enough to qualify as overfeeding. Days in my own home and in my own kitchen though, those work much better! I have already seen my temps go up a little bit.

As far as which would be better, I think they are both beneficial. I started getting into Matt’s stuff after I had already started GAPS, but if I had discovered RRARF earlier, I would have considered going through a month of that, and then doing GAPS, still overfeeding until I felt I could just eat to appetite. For me, GAPS is a necessity since I do have gut damage (as most people do), and you can’t heal that without temporarily cutting out disaccharides for a period of time along with the rest of the protocol GAPS instructs. So, it’ll have to be a GAPS version of RRARF for me at this point.

I’ll be sure to write more about this as things move forward! Thanks for stopping by, hope to hear about your progress with whatever path you choose!

Hey guys~
I thought I’d take a moment to share my story. I unfortunately did not have success with the GAPS diet, but I really love the concept. I am anemic and it is extremely important for me to receive a sufficient amount of iron. I actually take a children’s supplement called NEXT. I will post the link of where I buy it at the end of this post. It is amazing. I don’t take pills anymore. I only take two ounces of this drink each day. It has truly changed my life. It can do a lot for your kids. The kids that I babysit take it and very rarely get sick. I stand behind this product 100% .
abetterlife.vemma.com

I am interested in going on this diet and have read a lot about it recently. My issues are fatigue, being overweight and having had terrible sinus problems for many years due to lots of anti biotics and steroids. I am also looking into the candida diet. One question please. You say the beef broth is essential. Well I would find it hard to get hold of organic beef bones, I would have to order the bones online and have them sent to me, and they are expensive. about $2 per bone plus post and packing.
I am also very busy working long hours so would find it hard to find the time to make the broth anyway.
You say that it is the collagen that is needed.
It is not quicker and just as beneficial to buy collagen if it is good quality and use this? Please notify me. I would also love to find a diet buddy on here where we can support each other when we go through a hard time and need to be cheered up or
need a bit of understanding. I am single and cannot get this from family.

Hi Samantha, thank you for your comment. Since writing this post, I did go through with GAPS and did the Intro for a month, then full for another month, and it left me in poorer health than when I started. Same story with my husband. I’ve done a lot more research since then and my thoughts now on the issue are that GAPS should be used as an absolute last resort for very serious and very specific conditions, such as autism. It’s now my understanding that while, yes, many of these “GAPS disorders” are correlated with gut damage, the damage itself is merely another symptom of a deeper problem. It all boils down to your body’s basic metabolic function. I suggest reading this book to learn more about that.

As far as making broth versus taking collagen, broth does have many benefits aside from just the gelatin, but yes I think incorporating good quality cooked collagen (gelatin powder) is a great idea. I take collagen/gelatin powder every day.

There are so many wonderful people who read and subscribe to this site that are also active on my Facebook page, so if you ever have a question you want multiple opinions on, or want to find some more people going through something similar to offer support, I hope you’ll check it out and let us know how we can help.

I know this an old post and by the looks of your last reply you are no longer on GAPS but I just wanted to mention it was very informative. I had been toying with the GAPS idea because I believe (despite what doctors tell me) that my 22 month old son’s issues (GI problems and eczema) are gut related, and I am also struggling to gain weight since giving birth and I believe I have adrenal fatigue and all this I know is gut related.

I don’t think we are ready for GAPS, but after becoming a “health nut” I decided to take a break, go back to basics and start with traditional nourishing foods. I have Nourishing Traditions waiting for me at my local library…I’m going to start there.

Were you able to put on weight? (I haven’t read every single one of your posts so I apologize if you already wrote about this.)

Nourishing Traditions is an excellent place to start! Good for you. My friend Cara, who writes Health Home and Happiness, blogs about GAPS, but even she only did the diet herself for about 6 weeks, and that was enough to fix her food allergies. Only her daughter who was diagnosed with autism was on the diet long-term in her family, and even she’s off of it now. Cara recommends trying milk kefir before going full-force into GAPS. I think that’s a much safer plan than toying around with a potentially damaging, highly-restrictive diet like GAPS.

Yes, I did put on weight. I made some simple changes and was able to radically improve my metabolism and overall health, and my body settled into a higher weight naturally. I wrote about that here. Hopefully you’ll find that helpful!